China Celebrates KFC’s 30th Anniversary By Creating a Smartphone

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Marital tradition dictates that the 30th anniversary be celebrated with the gift of pearls. And while pearls are all fine and good, wouldn’t you rather commemorate such a milestone with a KFC-branded smartphone? In news that almost seems too absurd to be true, that appears to be the general idea behind Chinese electronics company Huawei’s production of a smartphone emblazoned with the Colonel’s smiling face and a phrase that translates roughly to “Established 1987,” the year that KFC opened up shop in China. (Incidentally, that’s the same year as Huawei was founded.)

According to Ad Age, the phone’s features include, fittingly, a pre-installed KFC delivery app. More surprising is the inclusion of a music selection feature that allows the user to pick a song they want to hear while they’re dining in at KFC. This isn’t the first time KFC has gone high-tech to hold onto its customer base in China. They’re also embracing online ordering (via China Daily), a staple in America that’s still establishing a foothold in China. And, as you’ll see in this promo, they’ve used emoji in their advertising. (The Colonel’s visage doesn’t translate quite as well to emoji as you may have hoped.) The promo spotlights K-Music, implying that KFC is just as appropriate a venue for proposals as it is birthdays.

There aren’t a lot of details available on the phone’s specifications, though the YouTube description indicates that it’s a customized take on the Huawei 7 Plus, and according to Kotaku, there will be the option of either 16GB or 32GB storage capacity.

Naturally, the key factor here is the whole “KFC phone” thing. Since they’re being so up front about exactly what this phone is, we wish them the best, and more success than U2 got that time they forced their album onto everyone with an active iTunes account.